Farscape Epic RPG: Future Tense: Broken Mirror
by Chant99
Summary: Based on my RPG. A quater cycles after the events in Future Tense the crew returns to their cargo hauling business. On a supply trip, an accident hurls Zhaan & Berret into an alternate reality and 11 cycles into the past.
1. Foreword

THE FARSCAPE EPIC RPG UNIVERSE: NEW CHARACTERS & SETTING.  
  
COMING SOON: I have made arrangements with Scottie R. Watson, the creator of the Chiana illustration that has been selling on Ebay, to create an original illustration of Chiana and Berret to go with the "Fallen Angel" series and Farscape Epic RPG stories I have been posting here. As soon as they are available they will be posted at the RPG for all those who care to stop in and look at them. There you will also find the information on how to contact Scottie if you wish to have your own RPG character or artwork done. There is currently an example of his work on our front page of the Farscape Epic RPG on Yhaoo groups.  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story was written based on the characters from my Farscape RPG group. This was one of my first tries at fanfiction and thought that others might enjoy it so I thought I'd try posting it here to see what others thought. But first I need to explain a bit about our RPG so you can follow the extra characters.  
The name of the group is "Farscape Epic RPG" and it can be found on Yahoo groups for those who wish to look us up. The game is based in an alternate Farscape universe that diverges from the shows timeline somewhere after Talyn's birth but before the Chiana/D'argo relationship.  
The Berret character here is basically the same Shrike 457 character from the "Fallen Angel" series posted here at Fanfiction.net. Though the original meeting between Chiana and the Shrike took place in a different way in the game.  
The other new characters in this story are original player characters.  
  
Andar Murdough - is a Sebacean teacher from a forgotten and lost colony. Andar's people have lost so much knowledge over the cycles that space flight is considered science fiction. Andar is abducted by aliens who experiment on his brain trying to increase intelligence. The project works much better then they thought and Andar steals a shuttle and eventually finds his way to Moya. Andar becomes a sponge for any sort of knowledge and begins to go through Moya's data banks learning everything he can. He often sees machines or gadgets in his mind and will disappear for days into his workshop to build them.  
  
Malika Phatan - is a 125-year-old Delvian teenager. After spending a number of cycles as a Peacekeeper slave aboard a command carrier, she and her mother escape in a Prowler, but at the cost of the life of a young PK officer who fell in love and secretly married Malika. After a time of running and hiding, the pair run into a Syndicate Shrike and the meeting leaves young Malika with an intense hatred and distrust for the Enforcers when the assassin kills a client Malika took a job bodyguarding for, and almost kills her and her mother in the process. Sometime after that, Malika's mother is tragically killed, leaving the girl alone. She hears a story about an escaped Leviathan with a Delvian Pa'u aboard and sets out to find the living ship with the hopes of fulfilling her mother's dream of her becoming a Pa'u. She finds Moya and Zhaan (who is alive in our game) and the older Delvian agrees to take her in. However, now there is a Shrike aboard Moya as Chiana's companion and she is having a hard time controlling the tendencies for violence she developed during the hard life she lived on the run from the Peacekeepers. Through young, Malika is also a skilled healer and thanks to her parents, an educated student of exobiology. She sets up a small lab on one of Moya's lower tiers, mostly to hide out from having to be around Berret ... and possibly Andar. Both Andar and Malika feel an attraction to each other, but the Delvian isn't sure she wants to open her heart to another after what happened to her Peacekeeper husband.   
  
Sean Crichton - 70 years after the disappearance of astronaut John Crichton, his descendant Sean uses John and DK's research to construct the Wander module. In an attempt to prove that his ancestor's theories were sound, Sean repeats the slingshot effect and is also thrown halfway across the universe only with a slightly different result. The Wander module is somehow draw backward in time to the Farscape module's location and is expelled from a wormhole near Moya. Sean finds himself stunned to be surrounded by a group of aliens and suddenly faced with a family legend. (At the time this story was written. The character of Sean Crichton had not yet joined the group. Later stories in this time frame explain his absence.)  
  
ADDITION CHARACTERS: Created by Chant99 for this story.  
  
Andrea (Sun Crichton): Age 8, oldest daughter of Aeryn Sun and John Crichton.   
  
Missy (Melissa Sun Crichton): Age 6, youngest daughter of Aeryn Sun and John Crichton.  
  
Jalen ('Len ): Age 8, son of Chiana and Jared Berret.  
  
Chulee ('Lee): Age 6, daughter of Chiana and Jared Berret.  
  
The nicknames of 'Len & 'Lee for Chiana and Berret's children, stem from a Nebari custom I invented for the story where close friends and family members used a shortened version of a person's name as a sign of a close or intimate relationship. Thus Jalen and Chulee are sometimes referred to as 'Len and 'Lee by their parents and other members of the crew. Chiana sometimes calls Berret - 'Ret, while Chiana is called 'Ana by her brother when they met. Nerri's name is not shortened in the story but would probably be something like 'Ri if it was. The ( ' ) is suppose to indicate a slight Nebari accent on the name. I leave that up to the read to imagine exactly how that would sound to them.  
  
The Events from "Future Tense":  
This story takes place approximately 11 cycles after the show's timeframe and my RPG game. At this time it has been already discovered that Berret is a human that had been abducted by alien slavers and sold to the Scarren Black Syndicate as a slave. Being a human is what had allowed Berret to survive the implantation of the experimental microbes that normally killed the average Sebacean. The microbes alter Berret's physiology to the point where he can no longer be considered an Earth human and in the beginning he feels no connection to John or Sean as being a member of the same species. Unlike the two Crichtons, he has no desire to return to Earth, as he would no longer fit in even if he could remember all of his past on his homeworld. Sometime during his time aboard Moya, Zhaan (who is alive, as well as Crais and Talyn) helps him retrieve some memories from his past, one of which is his first name - Jared.  
At John insistence that humans generally have two names, Berret adopts the name Jared Berret. While John sometimes refers to Berret as J.B., Chiana on the other hand often ignores or refuses to use the name Jared in the beginning. As she starts to realize she had feelings for the ex-assassin beyond their relationship as friends and crewmates, she finds she's strangely reluctant to acknowledge anything that was part of Berret's life before their meeting and sticks to the name Berret which she had given him. As time goes on and the pair go through various trials and adventures and are Bonded (Nebari version of marriage) the reluctance fades and she's comfortable using his first name, only falling back on the name Berret in times of severe stress or trouble.  
  
The Events in "Future Tense: Broken Mirror":  
The story picks up approximately a quarter cycle after the events in "Future Tense". The crew has decided to pick up their cargo hauling business when Jalen has recovered enough from his injuries despite the growing war between the Peacekeepers and the Scarrens. On a supply run, an accident resulting from the use of a new Scarren weapon transports Zhaan and Berret into an alternate reality - and eleven cycles into the past.  
Needless to say, the reality they end up in is the one from the show. This was written during the Chiana / D'argo relationship but before the arrival of Jothee or the death of Zhaan. This story is still ongoing and is nowhere near finished yet. It may take some time to do so as I have several other stories also in the works - so please be patient with me.  
Thanks for bearing with me through this long explanation. I truly hope you enjoy the story.  
  
Chant99 


	2. Chapter 1

Berret unleashed a straight punch toward Chiana's head. A split microt before his fist arrived at its target, the Nebari woman sidestepped and deflected his arm with her left hand. Holding on to his out stretched limb, she dropped low and moved under it; her right hand delivered a blow to his rib cage as she passed underneath. Continuing her motion, she stepped out from under his trapped arm to his right side and pulled hard downward. The Shrike left his feet as she forced him into a headfirst flip and landed flat on his back on the practice mat. In the blink of an eye, Chiana pounced on top of her husband and pinned him down.  
"What's the matter, Old Man? Losing your touch?" she jeered.  
Berret cocked his head and gave her a smirk. Grabbing on to both her forearms, he suddenly bucked his hips and with a little help from a knee to Chiana's backside sent her sailing over his head to land in the same position on her back. Berret pulled himself up into a handstand right behind her as she went over and came down on top of her. Their positions now reversed.  
"Not at all, Little Girl," he responded and then pinched the tip of her nose between his thumb and forefinger. Chiana growled menacingly and wrapped her strong legs around Berret's waist and locked them tight. She reached up behind his left arm and gripped high on his shoulder. Balling her other hand into a fist she smashed it down into his left elbow causing the joint to fold. At the same time she pulled down hard on his shoulder, causing the Shrike to roll to his left. With her legs locked around him she rode him all the way over until she was again on top. Leaning in close, she snarled only a few hentas away from his face,  
"I told you before to never play with my nose!"  
Berret looked up at his wife and then quickly pecked a kiss on the topic of their current discussion.  
"But it's my second most favorite part," he told her after.  
Despite trying to keep a straight face, Chiana cracked a smile at his antics.  
"Are the two of you going to combat train or play Nebari love games?" asked D'argo's gruff voice from off the mats. Chiana looked up and over to where the Luxan was standing.   
"Well... they're one in the same," she commented offhandedly.   
D'argo rolled his eyes. "Children! I'm surrounded by children," he said to nobody in particular.  
  
Chiana and Berret practiced a few more exercises and where just about to end the session when the gym chamber's door slid open and Nerri, Jalen, and Chulee came in from Moya's corridor. The little girl rode upon her uncle's back while the boy trotted along side them. Berret watched his son for a few microts; happy to see he was recovering well from his wounds from the battle at the apartments on Hyneria. The boy's chest only pained him occasionally and Zhaan reassured Chiana and himself that the pains would lessen as he grew older and added more body mass. After almost a quarter cycle, Zhaan and the med-techs had cleared him to be able to travel again on Moya two weekens ago and the crew had left Hyneria a weeken later to continue their transport business. The four children were happy to be back aboard the Leviathan even though that meant they had to spent part of each solar day being schooled by Andar, Malika, and Zhaan. They didn't mind so much the self-defense / fighting classes that Aeryn taught because they considered them fun. Berret himself taught them rolling, tumbling, and evasive exercises that went with his style of empty hand combat but he still refused to teach them any of the other skills he possessed, much to Aeryn's opposition that the children should start to learn what he could teach them. To his surprise the crew's two Luxans were his biggest supporters. Jothee and D'argo believing they should wait until the crew's offspring were older before teaching them certain things about fighting. Nerri even started helping teach the children some of his skills. Though Berret failed to see why the children needed to know how to use sonic lock-picks, Aeryn and the others for some reason thought the skill might come in handy and even had Nerri instruct them in how to use them. He stopped debating the subject when Chiana seemed to think it was something that every young Nebari should know. The children however thought it was something fun, like solving mechanical puzzles with sound waves.  
  
Nerri bounced up to his sister and her bond-mate, making his small passenger giggle at the unsteady ride.  
"Aren't you taking the playful uncle routine too far?" asked Berret.   
The Nebari man smiled and replied, " I'll be heading back to my base on Nebari Secondus soon and I don't know when I will be back to see the children, so I'm making the best use of the time I have left with them now."  
"Well, it's your back," said Chiana using a towel to wipe sweat off her body.  
"I'm sure Chulee's forgotten how to walk by now," Berret said to Chiana teasingly. Nerri made a show of flipping the girl up over his head and landing the giggling child on her feet. Swatting her on the backside he told her to go play with her brother while he talked to her parents.  
"See... no harm done," said the Rebel leader as the girl scampered away. "Zhaan asked me to come down and tell you when ever you're ready to leave on the cargo run she'll meet you in the landing bay," Nerri told Berret.   
Berret thanked Nerri for delivering the message and turned to his lithe bond-mate. "It looks like its time to get back to work," he said.   
"I thought we were just working," said Chiana with a grin.  
"No," he drawled, "I was working... you were fooling around."  
Chiana gave a mock cry of insult and threw her balled up towel at her husband's back as he turned to walk away. She followed that assault by leaping up on his back to ride there as they left the room on their way to their quarters to shower. Nerri looked over at D'argo who was going through a combat drill on the mats.   
"Didn't they just complain about me letting Chulee do that?" he asked.   
"Yes," said the Luxan with a grin. "But sometimes the two of them act Chulee's age anyway."  
  
After showering Berret said goodbye to his wife and children. Picking up his travel bag he went to the landing bay after comming Zhaan to tell her he was on his way to begin their three solar day trip. He arrived in the bay to find Jothee giving the Transport Pod a final systems check. Joban's daughter, Tamilla, was there with him assisting with the test out.  
"Good morning, uncle. How was your training session this morning?" the young man asked.   
"Morning, Jothee. You know how it goes.... you practice, your father grapes about details in your technique.... you practice some more, he finds something else to complain about," Berret said.  
"Yes. That sounds like father alright," chuckled the boy. "Tamilla and I have check the Pod over for your and aunt Zhaan's trip. Everything is in ship-shape," reported Jothee.  
"Thank you, Jothee...Tamilla," said the Shrike with a smile at the young woman. Tamilla smiled shyly back and Berret remembered the first few solar days she was aboard Moya for this trip. The Sebacean girl had to be constantly reminded for the first two days to call the crewmates by their names instead of the silly titles Rygel had given them as sort of a half joke. The only one she was comfortable using their proper name around was Jothee. John finally had to resort to what he called his "Crusher Crichton" wrestler imitation and each time the girl used one of the titles, John would throw his hands in the air as if he was in front of an imaginary crowd. He would then stomp around the deck while making strange grunting noises and then pounce on the girl, grabbing her in a headlock and vigorously using his other hand to mess her hair up. This was followed by his parading around the deck some more with the giggling girl still under his arm while he played to the invisible crowd. The four other children seemed to think this was very amusing and cheered loudly, when John finally released the girl they all clamored to be next in line to face "Crusher Crichton". Eventually the girl relaxed enough to start using the crew's names, except Berret had a feeling that the two Delvian Priestess still left her a little in awe. It probably also didn't help that when Jothee asked permission for the girl to accompany them on the run that both fathers grilled the youngsters about their intentions toward each other. Facing one of the men would have been bad enough, but facing both the huge Luxan and the big Sebacean man together had to be daunting for the youths. Privately Berret thought both fathers secretly were enjoying their offspring's nervousness and played the strict parental roles only to insure that they behaved themselves on the journey.  
  
Zhaan swept into the landing bay dressed in her traveling robes and greeted everyone with a smile and a cheery good morning. Jothee help the Delvian Pa'u stow a few extra packages she'd brought with her and then he and Tamilla cleared the landing bay as Berret sealed the Pod's hatch. Moving to the pilot's seat beside Zhaan, Berret ran one last check of the control board as the Priestess did the same on her side. Berret liked traveling with the Delvian woman. The only other member of Moya's crew he'd become closer too was Chiana. Zhaan had help the Shrike over many cycles to piece together his memory and past before the Black Syndicate and it was difficult not to develop a close bond with someone who has spent a great deal of time with you in each other's minds. Besides that point, Zhaan had lived so long and had done so much that she always had something interesting to discuss. Berret found he could sit and listen to her for arns or engage her in any number of debates, most of which he lost, about almost any subject. In the strange hierarchy of Moya's crew, where Aeryn and D'argo were the military might and minds, his bond-mate Chiana was the devious planner, Malika and Andar had knowledge and know-how, and Crichton was a wild card, Zhaan was the backbone of the group. She possessed a little or a lot of everything and made it all flow together into one unit. She was healer, scientist, warrior, priestess, mother, friend, and sister all rolled into one. While D'argo was her heart, John... of all persons, was her strength. Even after eleven cycles, Berret wasn't sure where he fit in with the group. He only knew that somehow he did and they all worked well together. He'd always thought that was because of Zhaan's influence, always ready to steer a crewmate whose gone astray back on to the right path, to fit back together with the team. Zhaan was the one who first pointed out to Berret that he was in love with Chiana whether he knew it or not. At a time when the Nebari girl was ready to give up hoping for a real relationship with the Shrike, a few well spoken words from the Delvian help the ex-assassin sort through what he felt and opened his eyes to what he was about to lose forever.  
  
Berret nodded to the smiling Delvian sitting across from him, telling her all systems checked out. Zhaan keyed her comm. "John, we are ready to depart now," she said.   
There was a strange crackle of static and a deep voice came over the comm link.  
"*Crackle*... Roger that, Flight Big Blue One.... please taxi to runway two-zero-niner. You are clear for take-off. Please fasten your seat belts and return your trays to the upright position. Thank you for flying the friendly skies on Crichton Airlines...*crackle*"  
Zhaan glanced at Berret and shook her head. "I suppose that means we are clear to leave Moya," she said as she released the Pod's magnetic skids. "Over ten cycles and I still do not understand half of what that man says."  
"Don't look at me," replied Berret as he lifted the Pod and sent it out of Moya's hanger bay into open space. "I have no idea what an air line would have to do with piloting this Pod or why it's named after John."  
Zhaan smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we will have to file it under another Crichton-like mystery."  
"There seems to be a lot of those," said Berret. "How do you suppose Aeryn puts up with it?"  
"I suppose with help from the Goddess.... and a good belt of Raslek every now and then," replied Zhaan chuckling.  
"I didn't know they made Raslek that strong," Berret quipped as Zhaan fed in the coordinates for their destination.  
  
The next two solar days were mostly uneventful for Zhaan and Berret. They arrived at their destination and the Delvian negotiated with a Biomaterial supplier for some raw materials they needed for Andar and Malika's Terza Root transportation support system that they had invented. While they made a fairly good living transporting cargo, the rare and delicate medicinal plants were easily worth four times what they could make on a normal cargo run. Zhaan had even managed to find a different strand of Terza seeds for Malika to analyze and hopefully use to improve their current strain of plants. They had a few arns to wait while their order was loaded aboard their Transport Pod, so the pair wandered through a small market and purchased a few items. Zhaan found a small Luxan statue that she thought D'argo would appreciate. Berret, not having much in the way of fashion sense, bought a scarf for Chiana and only after Zhaan assured him several times that his bond-mate would like the item. The children were easier to find something for. At one point he had considered buying Chulee a new doll, but the girl had several dozen and only really bothered with her Nebari doll that she'd had since birth. It was a Nebari custom that when a child was born that a doll was made that resembled the mother and was left in the baby's crib to watch protectively over the infant. Jalen was more active then Chulee and his Nebari doll did not last much past his second birthday. The only other doll the child played with often was the one that Joban's daughter Nella gave her, so Berret decided to buy several games that all the children could play with. The young girl who was the clerk at the shop smiled flirtingly at Berret as he made his purchases. Berret smiled back to be friendly and polite, only to have a slyly smirking Zhaan reach over and flick his Nebari Bonding earring with the tip of one blue finger.  
"Be careful, Studmuffin. You're a bonded man," she teased in a whisper that was still loud enough for the girl to overhear.  
"Stop it!" Berret said. "You know I would never do that... and that name sounds strange enough when John says it. He still hasn't explained what it means so that I understand what the frell he's talking about."  
The clerk was still watching the whispered conversation when Berret looked back up. He smiled again at the girl and on the spur of the moment draped his arm around Zhaan's shoulder and told the clerk,   
"We're expecting our first born and she's a little nervous," he looked back at the Delvian lovingly and added, "... Aren't you, Love Bunny?"  
Zhaan nearly choked at the unexpected comment and Berret made a show of patting her on the back.  
"Delvians get a little jealous and act twitchy when they're in that condition," he said confidentially aside to the young girl. The clerk nodded in agreement and congratulated the couple as they left the shop.  
Outside Zhaan had a fit of laughter and when she was able to catch her breath said,   
"That was a good one, I give you I deserved that," she admitted. "Love Bunny?" she asked him.  
"Another of John's strange pet names I heard him call Aeryn once," Berret told her.  
"And what did Aeryn do when he did," Zhaan asked.  
"The usual, scowled and growled at him," he replied.  
  
They were one solar day out on the return journey to Moya. Again the trip had been uneventful. The most interesting incidents they had were several discussions on various topics and one conversation that had turned into a real debate. To Berret's pleasure, while he had not won the debate, he had not exactly lost it either. Zhaan was lounging in the rear passenger compartment reading a very old edition of a book on herbs she'd found at the market and Berret was idly passing his time catching up and reading over data files that Rygel had sent the crew to keep them updated on the progress of the war between the Peacekeepers and Scarrens when the collision alert sounded. Berret switched his reader over to the sensors and looked over the streaming information. After a few microts he brought the Pod to a halt and called for Zhaan to join him.   
"What is it, Jared?" asked the Delvian.  
"I'm not sure, something really strange. Passive sensor scans say we are approaching something solid and the Active scans say there's nothing there. Visual and Radar scans confirm the Active scans findings... there's nothing out there," reported the Shrike.  
"It could be a malfunction in the P-scan sensor array," thought the Delvian out loud. She thought a micron more then added. "We are passing through a sector of space that's close to were there was a major battle between the Scarrens and PK forces about a weeken ago. Didn't Rygel report that the Scarrens had developed a new weapon? A Multi-phasic Particle weapon of some sort and that they had been testing it?"  
Berret shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry, Zhaan. I haven't caught up that far in the reports yet," apologized the ex-assassin.   
"Well, no harm," smiled the Pa'u. "It may just be residual particles left from the weapon's use if they employed it at the battle. As long as the active scans and other sensors agree that there nothing out there in our way, I see no reason why we can't continue home."  
"Sounds good to me," agreed Berret as he reactivated the Pod's main engines.  
  
The Pod soared forward for a few microts unaffected. Zhaan started to return to the rear compartment to pick up reading her book when the craft began to shake slightly.  
"What's that?" asked Zhaan coming back up to the pilot's station.   
"We have a slight flux in the power core," said Berret as he read the instruments. The shaking grew worse suddenly and the Transport Pod seemed to jump in place, making Zhaan and Berret see two of everything for a split microt. Immediately the ship engine's smoothed out as if nothing had happened. Berret and Zhaan looked at each other and then he checked over his control board.  
"Whatever it was, it's gone now. Everything reads normal again," he told her.   
"I've never seen a Pod act like that before," said Zhaan concerned.  
"Internal sensors read no damage to systems. Maybe the engine intakes inhaled something they couldn't use as fuel-mixture, and it just shook things up until it was spit out again?" Berret offered.  
"That is one possibility, though the intake filters shouldn't have let that happen," she said.  
"Then maybe we have a defective one somewhere," Berret replied.  
"That may be it. There's nothing that can be done about it until we reach Moya anyway. Keep a watch on the core readings and let me know if there's any change," Zhaan ordered.  
Berret threw her a mock salute. "Aye, Aye, Captain Blue," he said.  
The Delvian chuckled. "You are becoming more like Crichton everyday."  
Berret turned in the pilot's seat as she left the cockpit. "Well, there's no reason to be insulting!" he said to her departing back.  
  
Berret sat watch arn after arn. For some reason he had the uneasy feeling that instead of getting closer to home, he was moving farther away from it... away from Chiana and the kids. He shook his head, knowing the feeling was absurd. On the navigation screen Moya's plexxing beacon was glowing bright, calling her Pod home to her. Berret tried to relax but the closer the beacon got to the Pod, the more he was feeling further from his family. He rubbed his eyes and concluded that he was simply tired and after spending so much time on Hyneria with Chiana and the children close-by every day, that he just wasn't use to being away from them for so long. He tried staring out at the starscape looking to ease his mind that way but even the bright points of light seemed wrong, almost alien to him. When Zhaan awoke from her short nap to relieve him at the pilot's station, he still wasn't able to shake the strange feeling but decided it was just homesickness so he didn't concern the Priestess with it. Glad to get away from the cockpit, he retired to the rear compartment and laid down for his own short rest. His rest was peaceful and several arns later they were approaching the Leviathan ship. Pilot's voice welcomed them home as Zhaan commed Moya. Berret looked up at the massive landing bay port as it swallowed the transport. Despite his earlier feelings, it was good to be home again.  
  
Zhaan was first to depart the Transport Pod into Moya's landing bay. Crichton, Aeryn, and D'argo were there in the bay to greet them.  
"Hey Blue!" called John waving. "How was your trip?" he asked as she descended the Pod's staircase.   
"Uneventful, except for a strange power fluxuation in the Pod's power core and the passive sensors giving false readings," she called back. "We'll have to have Pilot send some DRD's to look at it," she finished looking up at the others as her feet touched Moya's deck. Strangely Crichton and the others seemed frozen as statues, but exploded into action a microt later as they scrambled for weapons.  
Confused Zhaan looked around herself to see what danger had caused her friends' alarm.   
"What's going on?" she asked as the barrels of pulse weapons were aimed in her direction.  
"Who the frell is that!" demanded Aeryn.  
"Who is who?" asked the Delvian... more confused.  
"Him," said John pointing at the Pod behind her.  
Zhaan turned to see Berret frozen in place on the staircase behind her, looking just as baffled as she did.  
"Is this some sort of joke, Crichton? You know very well who Jared is," said Zhaan exasperated.  
"Zhaan, just move away from him," John said seriously. "We've never seen him before in our lives."  
Zhaan looked back over he shoulder at the Shrike, finding herself at a loss for words to explain the other's behavior. Berret on the other hand, had a sudden cold feeling that he was looking at strangers wearing the faces of his friends.  
"Zhaan," Berret cautioned, "Be careful, there is something odd going on here."  
"Yes! And that something is you," snarled the Luxan. "Put your hands up!" he ordered.  
"D'argo! What is the matter with you all?" shouted Zhaan.  
"Easy, Zhaan," Berret whispered to her while easing his hands into the air.  
Zhaan wouldn't be curbed until she got to the bottom of why her friends were acting so strangely. She was just about to demand more answers when Rygel floated into the bay.  
"What the yotz is going on in here!" the Hynerian asked.  
Stunned, Zhaan instead asked, "What is Rygel doing here? And where are the children?"  
  
"What children, Zhaan?" Aeryn asked, her pistol never wavering from Berret.  
"Yours and John's... and Jared and Chiana's," she said simply.  
"What are you talking about, Blue?" asked Crichton just as Chiana arrived in the bay.   
"Who's talking about me?" she asked, then seeing the standoff, "Who the frells' that?" nodding her head at Berret. Berret mouth dropped as he saw her. Chiana's hair was now as short as when they first met over eleven cycles ago. She was also dressed in the same outfit with the fur shoulder pads. An outfit that had long ago been reduced to rags by wear and time. Zhaan began to realize something was not right at that same microt.  
She turned to the Shrike, "Something is terribly wrong here."  
"That's what I've been trying to tell you," answered Berret finally getting over the shock of seeing his wife.  
"Enough fun and games, Zhaan. Who is this guy? And where's Stark?" John questioned.  
"Stark? John, we haven't seen Stark since your escape from Scorpius' Gammack Base almost twelve cycles ago," said the Delvian.  
"Twelve cycles! Have you lost your mind?" asked Rygel. "That happened less then one cycle ago."  
"And what do you mean you haven't seen Stark? You left here together three solar days ago in that Pod," stated D'argo.  
"And for the last time... who the frell is he!" demanded John pointing at Berret.  
"John... all of you calm down. Jared is a friend," Zhaan asked looking from one to another. "I need some time to figure out what is going on here. This whole thing is not right."  
"How do we know he hasn't done something to Zhaan?" said Aeryn to the others.  
"We do not!" growled D'argo. "Chiana, get his weapon," he ordered.  
The Nebari girl balked at the command. "Ah-no, not me. I'm not going anywhere near him," she said ducking closer beside D'argo.  
"I would never do anything to hurt you," Berret said to her, feeling strangely upset at her reaction to him.  
"Like I would believe that," hurled the girl almost behind the Luxan now. "I don't like the way he's looking at me," she said to D'argo.  
"Of course Jared would never hurt Chiana!" snapped Zhaan.  
"And how do you know that for sure?" the Nebari shot back.  
"Because he's your bond-mate and loves you," she answered.  
The surprise showed on Chiana's face. "Oh yeah? Well... that's news to me!" she finally was able to say.  
"Zhaan," said Berret quietly, still holding the girl's gaze. "That is not our Chiana."  
"Not you too!" Zhaan said turning to Berret. "Who else can she be then?" She turned back to the others. "Where are Malika and Andar? Maybe they can help straighten this out."  
Now the others looked from one to another, confused again. "Who are they?" asked Aeryn.  
"Malika and Andar?" repeated John, and then shrugged his shoulders.  
"The other Delvian and Sebacean here aboard Moya," Zhaan supplied.  
"Zhaan, you are the only Delvian and I am the only Sebacean here on Moya," said Aeryn carefully. "Whatever he has done to you to frell your mind we'll make him undo it," she said stepping close and pulling the pistol from Berret's holster.  
"D'argo, I don't like this. Whatever's going on here is creeping me out," said Chiana to the Luxan as she wrapped her arms around his waist. To Zhaan's dismay, D'argo's arm wrapped around the girl and held her tight.   
"D'argo! What do you think you're doing?" demanded a hurt Zhaan taking a step toward the pair.  
D'argo looked shocked at the change in the Priestess and he had no idea what she was upset about or what to say to her.  
"What is going on between you and Chiana?" she then demanded from him.  
"Ah, Zhaan?" cut in Crichton, "Darg and Chi have been an item for about a quarter cycle or so... remember?"  
"I most certainly do not!" shouted the Pa'u.  
As much as D'argo and he had become friends over the cycles, Berret still didn't like the idea of his bond-mate and the Luxan being together. It left a sick feeling in his stomach, but it only added proof to his suspicion that Zhaan and he were not where they were suppose to be, that this Moya and her crew where not the ones they knew. Still he knew what Zhaan had to be feeling. He step forward and the others took a step backwards, their weapons rising to cover him. He made a point of slowly moving the few steps to the Delvian. He gently reached out a hand and grabbed onto the shaking woman's arm. Knowing he couldn't move her if she didn't want to be moved, he called her name until she turned to look at him. His heart went out to the woman as tears started to form in the blue eyes. The other's watched uneasy as she went into his arms. "What is happening here, Jared?" she asked in a whisper.   
"I think that somehow we are on a different Moya from ours. That is not your D'argo or my Chiana," he told her. "I also think that this is about ten cycles in the past... judging by everyone's appearance and relative age. You're going to have to come to terms with this situation if we are going to figure out what happened. I can't do this by myself, Zhaan. I need you."  
Zhaan brushed away a tear and nodded her head, "I'm sorry, Jared. After so long being with him, it was just a shock to realize that he and Chiana are together," she said.  
"Believe me, I know what you're feeling," replied Berret. "We just have to remember this is not our place and time. We are going to have to find out what happened to us and as fast as we can." 


	3. Chapter 2

"Moya says that the Pod Zhaan and the stranger arrived in, is her Pod, but at the same time it is not her Pod," reported Pilot over the holo-comm to the crewmates.  
"Wait a minute Pilot!" interrupted Crichton. "I don't understand. How could the Pod be Moya's and not be Moya's at the same time?" he asked.  
"It is difficult to explain," replied Pilot. "Moya claims that the Pod originated from her but is somehow different in some small ways."  
"Could the Pod have been subject to some force which has altered it in some way?" asked Aeryn.  
"We don't believe so, Officer Sun," Pilot said. "The Pod appears 'healthy', for lack of a better term. It just feels familiar and unfamiliar to Moya, as if something is 'off' about it."  
"Well, thank you for the 'accurate' report," said D'argo sarcastically.  
"I am sorry Ka'D'Argo," said Pilot slightly annoyed. "But there are just simply some sensations that can not be accurately described to bipedal beings who have never been joined to a Bio-mechanoid."  
"It's all right, Pilot," reassured Aeryn. "You've done the best you could. Thank you," she said giving D'argo a look that told him she thought his remark was uncalled for.  
"Well, it looks like we got a mystery on our hands, kids," remarked John. "Has anyone gotten anymore information out of Zhaan?"  
"Apparently she believes that we all have been aboard Moya for over twelve cycles and that there are now families here also," said Aeryn. "I'm no Med-tech, but according to the Med-scans we took and compared to Zhaan's last scans... she's aged at least ten cycles in only three solar days."  
"That's not possible even for a Delvian... is it?" asked Crichton.  
"No. It is not," answered D'argo. Chiana nodded her head in agreement at his side.  
"There are a few other things that are wrong," continued Aeryn. "Take a look at the pulse pistol we took from Zhaan's new friend."  
She placed the gun on the table and Crichton picked it up and began examining it.   
"It's a standard Peacekeeper Pulse Pistol... so what?" he said.  
"That's just it, John. It's a standard issue pulse pistol and as you know they are massed produced on an automated assembly line. Each one is exactly like the next," Aeryn told him.  
"Yeah... so Peacekeepers efficiently produce their weapons. Again, so what?" asked John once more.  
"Look at the safety," said Aeryn. John turned the weapon over, his thumb automatically moving to the safety switch. He stopped and did a double take at the weapon in his hands.  
"It's in the wrong place!" he said out loud to the group.  
"Yes, very strange for a standard massed produced weapon," added Aeryn.  
"Maybe it's been altered?" asked D'argo looking at the pistol over John's shoulder.  
"No. I've stripped this weapon as soon as I discovered the discrepancy. It has all the Peacekeeper stamps and markings. It has not been altered in anyway. This weapon was made like this in a PK factory but it doesn't follow all PK designs as we know them."  
"This is getting to be too weird," muttered John.  
"Another discrepancy I found was in the Pod that returned with them. The controls are basically laid out the same but a few of the panels are not in the correct places, which supports Pilot's report," reported the ex-Peacekeeper. "Also the cargo is rather strange, it's all chemicals and materials we have no frelling use for."  
"Well, I think it's time to talk some more with Zhaan then," said Crichton.  
  
Zhaan hurried to the cell that the crew had locked Berret into shortly after their arrival.   
"Jared!" she whispered.  
Berret rushed over to the cell door at her call. "What have you found out?" he asked.  
"Not much at all without trying to access Moya's data banks, but that will alert Pilot," she replied. "How are you managing?" she asked him feeling sorry for the imprisoned man.  
"Oh, there is nothing like reliving old times," Berret said lightly, looking around the cell. "I think my first cell was much nicer though."   
"I'm glad you're able to joke about it," said the Pa'u looking about nervously. "Jared," she said leaning closer to the door's bars. "We must be careful what we tell this crew if we are on a Moya of the past... we mustn't reveal anything about their futures to them that we already haven't."  
"Zhaan, I don't believe this is the Moya of our past," said the Shrike. "It's all wrong. This Stark never came aboard our Moya and where is Malika? She and I came aboard almost at the same time. I don't think this crew is living our past history."  
"I believe you might be correct, but we shouldn't take the chance. I have noticed that some things are not where they should be here," she said.  
"What do you mean?" he asked, not having seen much of the ship other then the landing bay and his cell.  
"It's little things really. Switches and buttons moved around, slightly different placement of fixtures," she answered.  
Berret nodded, "I'll try and make note of any differences I see, though I don't think I'll see much of anything stuck in here," he said. A small sound coming from further down the corridor told them they were no longer alone.   
"Zhaan?" said Chiana's voice.   
"Yes, Chiana?" said the Delvian turning away from Berret to face her.   
"The others would like to see you in command," the Nebari said.  
"Of course, I'll go right away," Zhaan told her then turned back to Berret. "I'll be back soon to see you," she said placing her hand over the top of his and giving it a gentle squeeze. "We will straighten this out," she promised.   
"I know we will, Zhaan," said Berret quietly as she turned to go, leaving him alone with Chiana.  
The Nebari girl cocked her head to look at Berret. She took a few steps in different directions trying to get a better view but kept well away from the bars.  
"Is there something you want to know?" asked Berret.  
For a couple microts it seemed the girl was going to ignore his question, then she finally said,   
"That was a interesting story you told. Why the frell do you insist you know me?" she asked.   
Berret smiled a little and went back to sit on his bed. "Well, not you personally. Someone like you," he told her.  
Chiana thought for a micron, then said, "No. You told Zhaan in the landing bay 'that's not our Chiana.' I remember almost word for word. And then Zhaan said you were my bond-mate. What are you trying to pull?" she demanded. "Whatever you've done to Zhaan, we'll find out about it and you'll pay if you've hurt her," she said puffing herself up as she made the threat.  
"I would never hurt Blue anymore then I would ever hurt you," answered Berret calmly.  
"Just because you know one of John's pet names for Zhaan doesn't mean anything!" she snapped.  
"Chiana, believe it of not. I have done nothing to Zhaan and I mean nobody aboard Moya any harm. And yes, I know a lot of intimate things about you all, and that is only because what Zhaan and I have been telling you is true," he attempted to explain.  
"Oh yeah?" challenged the Nebari girl, "What kind of things?"  
Berret exhaled loudly, obviously beginning to lose his patience.   
"I know that you had a friend when you were younger named 'Berret', ask Zhaan how I got that as part of my name. I know that you and your brother Nerri escaped Nebari Prime and that was only because the government wanted you and some others to spread a Contagion through the Territories. I know that one of your favorite foods is Trellian Chocolate, though I never could understand how you could ever eat something that was so sickly sweet," he told her. As he spoke Chiana's eyes grew ever wider in shock.  
"I know you sleep with your head buried under the covers when you're alone. You have a bad habit of cocking your head to the left when you punch with your right hand... and you have a small birthmark right on your..."  
"Enough!" Chiana shouted cutting him off.   
Berret knew he'd gone too far as he saw the girl was shaking. "I'm sorry, Chiana. I was just trying to prove to you..." he started to apologize.  
"I don't frelling care what you were doing!" fumed the Nebari. "I don't know how you know all those things about me, but whatever you're up to... you won't get away with it. I've scammed with the best of them and I can tell you your tricks are very weak!"   
She turned on her boot heel and stalked away from the cell.  
"I wish they were just tricks, Pixie. I really do," muttered Berret to himself. Alone again on the cell tier he went back to examining the lock to his cell.  
  
Berret had learned what he needed to know from the lock on his cell. He sat back on his bed and thought over the situation. He hadn't a clue as to what had caused their move into a reality were everything was changed around and lagging ten cycles behind as well. This crew was much like the crew he knew when he first arrived aboard Moya. It was more like they stuck together out of necessity, more a pact about survival then about loyalty to each other as a family. Strangely, it was exactly as he remembered it being.   
A major difference being that he didn't have Chiana as an ally this time around.   
The thought of his wife sadden him. He wished he could see her at that moment. There was so much more he wanted to tell her. Things he should have said and done, secrets he should have revealed but didn't. One being that Rygel had called him to his private rooms for a meeting ten weekens ago. The Dominar wanted him to 'unofficially' visit the Nebari Ambassador Lerris. Rygel wanted to make sure the Official didn't get it into his head to double cross the alliance again and Berret carried the message to the man after promising the Hynerian that he would leave the man alive when he left. The cloaked Shrike appeared one night shortly after the meeting in Lerris' bedchamber. After presenting Hyril's necklace with his family crest, which he had taken the night he went to deal with the Nebari man, to the Ambassador... the man fainted. Curious at the reaction, Berret slapped the man back to consciousness. When Lerris came to, he began to jibber and begged the Shrike not to take his head as he'd done to Hyril and Stoma's scouts. As badly as Berret wanted to kill the man before him, he was confused at the plea. He was responsible for the scout's decapitations, but he'd more or less left Hyril alive when he departed the safe house. He covered his confusion and delivered Rygel's warning with a promise to visit the Ambassador one last time should he betray the alliance or Rygel again in anyway. A visit he made the Nebari man realize that he would relish all too well.  
After slipping out of the Nebari embassy, he returned to meet Rygel and give him a report.  
"So the visit went as planned," said the Hynerian as Berret finished talking.  
"Yes, Rygel. Though one strange thing... what was Lerris talking about Hyril's head? When I left him he was dying but still alive and his head was very much still in place," said the Shrike.  
The Dominar gave an evil chuckle. "Well, it was... until my agents arrived on the site. Hyril was dead when they got there. Seemed he died trying to crawl his way out to the landing pad by the residence. Didn't do him any good because it appears somebody blew up his personal air schooner where it was parked. However, it was thought that certain missing body parts would help convey a stronger message to the Nebari. So the scene was staged before the Nebari representatives could arrive," smiled Rygel.  
"That would explain why Lerris almost drenned his nightshirt when he awoke and seen me," said Berret.  
Rygel let of an evil laugh. "Yes, it seems he believes my assassins like to take heads as trophies. He was probably thinking he was going to end up somewhere over your mantle."  
Despite himself, Berret found himself grinning. "You're a sick 'man', Rygel," he said  
"Don't blame me. You're the one who started cutting people's heads off," he said.  
"I have never kept anyone's head," Berret said in his own defense. "But I will keep yours if Chiana finds out about tonight's fun. That is, if she doesn't take mine first."  
"She'll never hear it from me," promised Rygel with a look of mock innocence. "I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't absolutely necessary to make sure that Lerris behaved himself," the Hynerian finished suddenly serious again. "I can't afford to have him playing anymore games at this point."  
"I know, Rygel. It was for the greater good of the Territories," said Berret. "And I agree, you were absolutely correct in having to make sure Lerris remained in line. The Nebari cannot be trusted. I would not have gone otherwise."  
Rygel smiled at Berret's admission. "Thank you, for not killing him and for your help completing this 'mission' for me, Jared."  
In a parody of his days as a Syndicate assassin, he bowed low and said,   
"Not even death, my Dominar," He then turned to leave as Rygel's deep chuckles followed him to the door. Remembering the sound of the Hynerian's deep laughter, Berret lay back on the cell's bed and closed his eyes to wait and see what happened next.  
  
"Zhaan, think about what you're saying," said Crichton. The Delvian woman was sitting in a chair surrounded by her friends as they asked her questions over and over. The single light on over her head reminded John of the old cop shows where they interrogated suspects under a bright spotlight.  
"I am telling you the truth, John," she repeated for what seemed the hundredth time. "This is not how things are suppose to be," she insisted.  
"I know, Zhaan," he said putting up his hand. "The ship is loaded with kids... and there's Andar the Cosmic Destroyer and Muffy the Vampire Slayer..."  
"Malika," corrected Zhaan. "And Andar was a teacher actually."  
"Malika," repeated Crichton, "and Ole Sparky's back on the throne..."  
"I rather like that part!" put in Rygel with a huge smile.  
John glared at the Hynerian for interrupting and Aeryn slapped him in the back of the head, "Be quiet," she said.  
"And we run some sort a space trucking company, and your new friend and Chi are playing house..." Crichton continued. D'argo growled low at the comment and Chiana reached up to hold his hand. The growl and the intimate touch didn't escape Zhaan's observation and she became distracted from the discussion. John had to shake her shoulder to get her attention back.  
"I know you believe that you and D'argo have a relationship, but trust me Zhaan, that's never happened."  
"I do trust you, John. As I trust all of you," she said looking around, "Now, I'm asking you to trust me as well." She looked back in D'argo's direction. The big Luxan left Chiana's side and knelt in front of the Priestess.   
"Zhaan, there had been times in the past when we were or might have become 'close', but they have never come to be more then might-have-beens. I'm with Chiana now and this Jared person has put these false memories in your head. You've admitted that you have shared 'Unity' with him. Isn't it possible that this life you describe never happened?" D'argo asked her.  
"I am a 12th level Pa'u! What I've described and told you... has happened. No one is controlling me or has altered my perception of time. From what you told me, similar current events have happened to us... but they happened over ten cycles in our past. This is not Jared's or my place and time," Zhaan insisted.  
John stood back up from Zhaan's side. "I give up," he said throwing his hands in the air. "She's not budging from her story." He moved over to stand by Aeryn.  
"There are those strange differences in some of the equipment they brought back," Aeryn whispered to him.   
"Yeah, but how is knowing that gonna do us any good?" asked Crichton.  
Aeryn thought a micron, and then pulled out her pulse pistol. She dropped the power pack out of the grip and tossed it to a surprised Zhaan. "Take it off safe!" the ex-Peacekeeper ordered suddenly.  
Zhaan fumbled with the weapon for several microts and looked up at her confused,   
"I can't... it doesn't have one," she said.  
Aeryn took the weapon back and reloaded it before snapping it back into her thigh holster. She reached over to the table and tossed a second pulse pistol to the Delvian. "Unsafe that one," she said.  
Immediately there was a soft click as the weapon's safety disengaged.  
"Why did you give me a broken pulse pistol and then a working one?" asked Zhaan as Aeryn took the gun back from her.  
"Yeah, why did you?" asked Crichton privately to her.  
"John, Zhaan's been around long enough to know her way around a pulse weapon. She should have found the safety without even having to think about where it was located on an issue pistol," explained Aeryn.  
"But she didn't know where it was on yours," finished John catching on now.  
"Yes, but she had no problem with the weapon we took off of this Jared," Aeryn said. "Do you really think somebody would be thorough enough to alter repetitive muscle memory and training? It would take me weekens of training with this weapon to be able to find the moved safety without having to think about where it was every time."  
"So you're saying that her story's true then? That's not our Zhaan sitting there?" asked Crichton.  
Aeryn nodded her head looking back over to the seated Delvian; the woman watched the pair waiting for an answer to Aeryn's strange test. John shook his head and rubbed his eyes and face with one hand.  
"Houston... we have a problem," he muttered  
  
Berret had lightly dozed off in his cell and was awaked by a heavy footfall outside the cell's door. He opened his eyes to see D'argo standing outside glaring in at him.  
"What is it D'argo?" said Berret disinterestedly.  
"We are discussing what to do with you," the Luxan informed him. "When I found out you were a Shrike, I voted to kill you and shove your body out an airlock. However, the others have overruled me."  
"That's what I've always like about you, Darg... you're consistent," replied the man behind the bars.   
"I imagine Rygel voted right along with you."  
"He did... but there's still time for the others to change their minds," answered the Luxan.  
"Forget it, D'argo. You're not going to impress me with boisterous talk. You are a warrior... not a murderer. You would no more kill an unarmed man then Rygel would turn his nose up at a food cube," said Berret laying his head on his arms and staring up at the ceiling of his cell.  
"You do not know what I will or will not do! You do not know me, Shrike," snarled the warrior.  
Berret propped himself up on one elbow to look at him, "D'argo... I've already been through this whole entire chapter with you in real life. I have no wish to repeat the whole sequence a second time. Now if you don't have anything pleasant to say... please, go away and write some more of your Luxan love poetry that you love so much and leave me alone," he finished and laid back down in the bed to stare at the ceiling once more.   
D'argo more enraged at the casual dismissal then his knowledge of the poetry, hissed and his long whip like tongue shot out. To his amazement, the Shrike's hand moved in a blur and caught the stinging tip before it could touch his neck and render him unconscious. Just as quickly Berret let go and his tongue coiled back up.   
"Nice try..." said the Shrike, "but I'm just as fast as you are."  
D'argo cursed at the man. "I don't buy this story you have Zhaan shoveling. The others may agree to let you out of there, but I'm warning you... I'll be watching your every frelling move. Do something I don't like and I will kill you." He was just about to turn away, when he added, "And one of the things that will displease me very much is if you upset Chiana. Stay away from her."  
The Luxan stalked away in a swirl of tentacles, the ex-assassin turned his head to watch him go. He looked back at his ceiling after he was gone and mumbled to himself,   
"Well, that of course would go without saying, D'argo."  
  
Moving on the next phase of the investigation, Aeryn had Pilot send the DRD's to go over the Pod down to the last molecule for any clues as to what happened. They'd allowed Zhaan to roam free, seeing basically she was still Zhaan. She went back to see Berret in his cell and update him on what was happening. It uplifted the man's spirits to know that the crew was at least beginning to believe their tale and were actively looking for answers. Zhaan returned to plead with the rest of the crew to release Berret from the cell but they weren't ready to trust the stranger just yet until they had more proof that the story was indeed the truth. The Delvian had gone to the center chamber to get Berret a tray of food when Chiana found her there. The Nebari girl seemed nervous, as if she had something to ask but was afraid to hear the answer. Zhaan was getting set to leave the mess when the Nebari girl finally got up the nerve to ask.   
"Ummmm... Zhaan? Can I talk to you for a micron?" she asked the Priestess.   
"Of course, Chiana dear. What is it?" she replied setting the tray down.  
"I know you're upset about me and D'argo, but..." she started but the Pa'u cut her off mid-sentence.  
"There is no need to apologize, Chiana. This situation is not your fault and this is not my reality. I sincerely wish you and your D'argo all the Goddess' blessings... but if you don't mind, I would rather not discuss it further," said Zhaan bending to pick the tray back up.   
"I just wanted to say I was sorry, but there's also something else I wanted to ask you," continued the Nebari.   
Zhaan turned back to her. "What is it?" she asked.  
"That man with you... Jared. Is he really my bond-mate where you come from?"  
Zhaan smiled at the girl. "Yes, that is the truth. The two of you... or rather he and our Chiana have been bonded for nine cycles. They have two very beautiful children," she said.  
"That's hard to believe. How come we've never met here in this reality?" Chiana asked.  
"I'm afraid that's a question I don't have an answer for, dear. If you really want to know more about Jared, why don't you go and talk with him," Zhaan suggested.  
Chiana shook her head. "There's something about him that makes me feel weird. It's like he knows all my secrets or something. It gives me the frelling creeps."  
"Well, there are bound to be similarities between you and our Chiana so of course he'll know some things about you. But if you want real answers you'll have to go ask him. What he is today is what our Chiana helped make him into. I'm sure if you give him a chance, you'll find something familiar about him," said Zhaan.  
Chiana thought over the prospect of speaking with the man. "I'm not sure... D'argo will definitely not like it."  
Zhaan smiled, "I've found that my D'argo had to be taught that while I'm with him, he does not control my every move." She gave Chiana a meaningful look.  
Chiana sprouted a mischievous grin as she realized what she was getting at.   
"Yeah, that sounds right. He needs to know I'm independent. I just don't want him to think I'm interested in Jared if I start talking to him. I don't want Jared to get any ideas either," she concluded.  
"My dear," said Zhaan placing a hand over one of Chiana's, "Jared may come to care for you because in a way you're like our Chiana, but he is singularly devoted to her. If we can't find a way back home, I fear he will probably spend the rest of his days here alone and pining away for her and the children." 


	4. Chapter 3

Zhaan made her way back to the cell tier where Berret was located. She was surprised to find Crichton there conversing with the Shrike. She cleared her throat so the pair would realize she was present. At the sound John startled and apologized to the Delvian for not seeing her and then made an excuse to leave so the Shrike could eat. Berret watched the man leave with enough deep concern in his eyes for Zhaan to pick up on almost instantly.   
"What's wrong, Jared?" asked the Delvian woman.   
Looking as far down the corridor through the bars as he was able to be sure they were alone, he turned back to her and whispered. "There is something wrong with this Crichton."  
Zhaan looked around herself before replying. "What do you mean?"  
"He came here to ask a few questions about our trip back to Moya and in the middle of the discussion he started to act strange. It was like he was talking or arguing with someone standing right next to him only there wasn't anyone there. He also said Scorpius' name several times," Berret told her.  
"Do you think it means...?" asked the Pa'u.  
"I don't know... I was hoping you knew something about his behavior and it's not what we think it might mean," answered the Shrike.  
"At this point in our time, Scorpius was still very much a threat," said Zhaan. "And we have to remember, here you, Malika, and Andar never arrived to make that trip to the Command Carrier to steal the codes."  
"I remember. But why would this John be carrying on imaginary conversations with him? I don't recall our John ever acting like that when he had the neural chip still inside him," commented Berret.  
"He didn't because we got it out in time. There must be something seriously different going on here then what we experienced. They don't seem to be aware of the chip. Maybe here, Scorpius caught them and implanted one in all of them?"  
"If that's the case, what happens if the rest of them start acting like that? We may never leave and get back to where we belong if they're all going crazy in this reality," said Berret.  
"Be calm, Jared. Let me go talk to the others and see if I can find out more of what's going on here before jumping to conclusions," she said.  
"That's easy for you to say," replied the Shrike sarcastically, "They don't have you locked in a cell while the little Scorpius voices in their heads tell them what to do."  
"Relax!" repeated the Delvian, "Now you're starting to sound more like Chiana everyday."  
"Well, she makes a lot of sense at times!" he said.  
  
Zhaan smiled down at the four children gathered around her workstation. It was a big enough shock to find they'd returned to a different Moya with a few extra crewmembers, but she never considered that there would someday be children living here with them. The half Nebari boy looked up at her and broke her train of thought with a question.   
"Have you found a away to get our Dad back yet, Aunt Zhaan?"  
It had taken the Delvian a few arns to get use to being called aunt by the children. She smiled again and touched his arm to comfort him. "I'm still working on it, dear," she told Chiana's son.   
The two Nebari children both wore worried expressions on their young faces and nothing their two friends tried to interest them in seem to work. Zhaan wondered about their father, a man she'd never met. In this plane of reality Chiana had bonded with another Earthman like Crichton and she wondered what her D'argo would make of that in light of their current relationship. To make matters worse, the Zhaan here was involved with this D'argo and that revelation had almost been disastrous when the Luxan and Stark almost came to blows before everything could be straightened out. She was just trying to figure out a nice way to ask the children to leave her to work when the other Delvian, Malika, entered the lab and chased them out.  
The one thing Zhaan wouldn't have minded would be to have another Pa'u aboard her Moya. She found Malika to be a very intelligent young woman. Zhaan enjoyed her company and working with her. Malika had explained that her Zhaan had been training her in the Delvian Seek and that she'd reached the third level in her studies. Another time she might have thought it counter productive for the young Pa'u to be carrying a rather large fighting knife in her belt, but the last cycle or so aboard Moya were she found herself carrying a pulse weapon more often then not, led her to remain silent on the subject of an armed Priestess.  
Malika smiled at the older Pa'u. "How are you coming along?" she asked.  
"I'm still looking through all the information and sorting facts. I believe this new weapon of the Scarrens may have had something to do with our Pods changing places in each other's planes of reality. I'll know more when I've finished," she told the younger woman. "Have you seen Stark?" Zhaan then asked her.  
"He's on the Command tier. He and John are still mapping the wave front the Scarren's weapons caused when the warhead detonated. According to Rygel's information the Peacekeepers lost six Command Carriers and a number of support vessels at sector zero of the blast," reported Malika.  
"Such an awesome weapon of destruction. To be powerful enough to cause a rip in the fabric of space twelve sectors away," Zhaan shuttered. "I hope neither side in my reality develop this weapon... no offense meant, dear," Zhaan added so the woman didn't think she was being cold to this reality's dilemma of actually having to live with them.  
"None taken, Zhaan," said Malika with a smile. "The good news is that the Scarrens don't have the resources to build many more like it." For the sake of this Moya's crew and the children aboard she hoped that was true. As far as Zhaan was concerned the prototype weapon was already one too many.  
  
The encounter with this D'argo disturbed the Shrike more then he wanted to admit. The Luxan and he had their share of conflicts when he'd first come aboard Moya. Eventually they worked out a truce that led to a working relationship and then to becoming allies and friends. Berret realized that he found the lost of the Luxan's camaraderie very depressing. Now with this Crichton possibly going insane it made the situation much more dire. He was considering escaping from his cell and going to find Zhaan. Once he found the Delvian he thought it best if they took their Pod and got the hezmana away from this crew. They could figure out how to get back to where they belonged as soon as they were safely away. He was well into planning their breakout when his microbe-enhanced sense of smell brought him a familiar scent. He hadn't realized that his senses where working at a hyper level until that moment.   
He smiled to himself as he asked out loud, "Have you come back to make more threats yourself, or are you just going to leave any further ones to D'argo now?"  
"How did you I was there?" asked Chiana as she stepped into view in front of the cell door.  
Berret gave her what he hoped was a friendly smile, "You probably don't want to know and you would probably take it the wrong way if I did tell you," he said to her.  
  
Chiana was obviously trying to make small talk with the man. "No. I really do want to know how you knew. I though I was being very quiet. It's a trait you have to have when you're a professional thief, ya know?" she said.  
Berret remembered how his Chiana use to pride herself on her skills and how important they were to her.  
"Yes, I suppose you're right on that account," he told her. "You were very quiet. I never heard you coming."   
"Then how...?" she asked confused by the reply.   
Berret walked over to the cell door and was pleasantly surprised when she didn't back away at his approach this time. "The microbes I have at times augment my senses. Like our Luxan friend, I was able smell you coming," he explained to her. At the twisted look on Chiana's face he continued with some amusement. "Not that you smell bad or anything," he told her in a hurry. "You can imagine that someone in my position, in my reality, would... 'ah?'... know your scent very well."  
He was glad when the Nebari girl didn't become angry again over the implied intimacy between them.  
She instead apologized for the earlier discussion they'd had and told him that it looked like their story was turning out to be true.   
"Zhaan said that maybe I should talk with you. I had questions about where you both come from and your lives. She thought it best if I asked you personally about your life. If you don't mind I'd like to sit and talk with you."   
Berret smiled at her, seeing both the wild girl and the mature woman his bond-mate had been and had become in this Chiana. "Not at all. I'll tell you anything I can," he said.  
Chiana looked around but there was nothing she could use as a seat presently in the corridor.  
"I'd open the cell door and let you out or I'd come in to sit with you, but I don't have the door code," she told him. He was surprised for a microt that she'd consider going against the other's decision about keeping him locked away, but then he remembered how much of a rebel his wife could be and realized he shouldn't have been so surprised after all. He gave her his version of Chiana's devious grin and said,   
"No problem."  
He reached through the bars and tapped a code into the lock. The door cycled open.   
"As John likes to say... Ta-Da!" he said with a flourish.  
Chiana stood there with her mouth opened in amazement. "You mean you could have walked out of there at any frelling microt you wanted!" she asked.   
"Well, not any microt," he answered. "It took awhile to figure out the code but it wasn't that far off the one we use."   
Chiana looked at the lock and then stepped into the doorway to look at it again from what would have been Berret's prospective. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she said,   
"It must have been hard to work at it from this angle. You'd have to almost be able to read it backwards to figure it out."  
He smiled knowing it was a test of a sort. "I know. My Chiana taught me how to do it. She thought it was a useful skill to have in case you're caught without your lock picks."  
It was obviously the same belief this Chiana also held as she nodded her head in agreement with his explanation.  
"She sounds like a smart girl," she said breaking into the first real smile she'd given him since he set foot aboard this Moya.  
"Yes," he chuckled, "but there were times she was a real bad influence on me."  
He waved her over to take a seat by the cell's bed so they could begin their conversation.  
  
Berret looked at this Chiana, so much like his wife of ten cycles ago, but not really her.  
"So we're really bonded where you come from?" she began.  
"Yes," he said softly, turning his head to the side so she could see the bonding earring that was the twin to the one his Chiana wore.  
"Wow..." she said as she tilted her head to get a different angle of view of the piece of jewelry. "That's really beautiful," she added admiringly.  
Berret chuckled despite his situation. "Well, it should be. You... I mean she, picked them out." He quickly lost his humor as he thought of the possibility of never seeing his wife and children again. Seriously he said to her, "I know it must be strange to hear that in another reality you're bonded to a total stranger. I can assure you it's even stranger for me to try and remember you're not her."  
"You must miss me... I mean her, very much," Chiana said.  
"Yes, I do. Very, very much," he said quietly.  
"It's probably very hard for you to talk with me then. I should have realized that before coming here. I'm sorry... I better go," she said getting up from her seat.  
"Please no, it's alright. Stay if you can," he told her. "If I can't be home with her at least when we talk I hear her voice," said Berret in explanation. Chiana sat back down in her seat.   
"If you don't mind... will you tell me about our kids?" she asked, not bothering to correct herself because it was getting too tiresome. Berret smiled at this other Chiana in silent agreement to ignore the confusing mix up in words.   
"I can do a little better then just that," he said pulling out a holo disk on a chain from around his neck. He placed the disk down flat on the bed and keyed it on. A hologram appeared in the air above it, showing the family. Chiana saw an image of the man before her and an older version of herself standing side by side. Berret holding a three cycle old Chulee in one arm with his free arm around the Nebari woman's waist, a six cycle old Jalen stood in front of the other Chiana. She had her hands resting on the boy's shoulders as if to keep him from running away before the image could be taken.  
"I've been meaning to update the images, but Chulee is six and Jalen is almost nine now," apologized Berret.  
Chiana held back a sniffle. "By the Goddess, they are beautiful. I never realized..." she began and couldn't finish.  
"Yes, just like their mother," murmured Berret more to himself.  
Chiana inspected herself in the holo. "Oh!" she said, her hands beginning to shake slightly, "Look how long my hair is." Berret looked at the image of his wife with her.  
"Yes, you started... 'she' started to let it grow when she was pregnant with Jalen," said the Shrike. It was obvious that the Nebari was becoming emotional so Berret keyed off the holo. "I'm sorry," he apologized again. "I didn't mean to upset you."  
Chiana wiped at a tear that had started. "No. No, you don't understand," she said waving him off. "I'm not upset... I'm actually happy to know that this is one possibility for me. That there is hope that I... that we, won't always be running."  
  
"Do you think that I'll ever meet the you from this universe?" she asked. "And that someday I'll have a family like this?"  
Berret shook his head. "I really don't know. In my universe at this time, we are not yet bonded but I have been aboard Moya with you for over half a cycle. This other Jared has never appeared so maybe here he was never abducted and sent to the Scarrens. He could be back on earth right now with his own family, a different family then mine," he considered. "Also Malika and Andar have never appeared and the Stark from our plane has yet to resurface or maybe never will. Besides you're with D'argo now, and as you know that never happened in our history."  
"I know," said Chiana, feeling badly. "It must hurt your Zhaan a lot to see us together."  
Berret nodded, "I'm sure it does to some extent. But like me, she realizes that your D'argo is not her D'argo. It just takes a little adjusting to get past the disorientation." Berret though for a few microts then chuckled. "I wonder what our D'argo thinks about your Zhaan if she's with our crew!"  
Chiana giggled with him, "If he's anything like my D'argo... I'm sure he's lost." She paused a moment in thought. "Tell me about the me there... the older me," Chiana then asked.  
Berret thought a micron and started, "Well, she was very much like you when we first meet... very mischievous and a very bad influence on me as I've said." That comment brought him another giggle from his audience. "But at the same time she was patient and caring. She put a lot of herself into rehabilitating me after she found me. It took a long time for me to straighten out this emotion thing. To understand what I was feeling and dealing with what the Scarrens did to me. She never gave up even when I did. She pushed me when I needed it, and comforted me when I needed that. I learned to care and like life watching her, and then she finally taught me to love life," Berret said and Chiana could almost sense a feeling of awe in his voice as he described his bond-mate. "It was a real shock the day I finally realized that whether I knew it or not, the first time I laid my eyes upon her... that I fallen in love with her. Everyone but me seemed to know it. John, Zhaan, ...even D'argo did their best to open my eyes and make me understand. If it wasn't for them, I would have lost her in the end." Berret stopped speaking lost in the memory of his own thoughts.  
  
Berret recalled one of the first times he realized but didn't understand that the Pixie meant more to him then just a traveling companion aboard ship. They'd been negotiating for food items at a Supply Base and Chiana had used her wanton charms to make a better deal with a Vendor of food cubes. As she purred and lounged herself over the man Berret found himself becoming more and more annoyed, to the point where he would have liked to kill the man to remove the leering look from his face and his roving hands from Chiana's body. He'd seen her perform the act many times and she'd almost always managed to handle her victim and get what she wanted without putting herself at too much risk. He didn't understand why this time was different and what the emotion meant. He had thought he had hid the unexplained feelings well, but the Nebari girl seemed to have picked up on them anyway.   
"You're jealous! Admit it!" said Chiana as they left the vendor's place of business.  
"I... am... not... jealous," denied Berret sullenly.  
Chiana danced around in front of him grinning, her gray overcoat twirling around as she moved.  
"You were too!" she said triumphantly and then gave a short chuckle.   
"Why do you take such pleasure in tormenting me?" asked the Shrike.  
The Nebari tilted her head to one side as if she had to think for a microt and then answered,  
"Because I can!" and her grin grew even wider.  
"You..." Berret responded while tapping a finger on the tip of her nose, "are sometimes a bad person."  
"Yeah, but I'm fun to be around," she shot back.  
Berret thought a moment and had to agree with her on that fact; She did make life interesting. Chiana fell into step beside him and they continued walking. Her hand ducked into the folds of his cloak and found his, not minding the cool metal plates of his amour. Her touch was electric and he looked down at her with a smile, everything seemed to be forgiven despite the bad feeling her flirting had left him with, but stubbornly he wasn't ready to let the Pixie have the last word.  
"But you didn't have to be so 'cozy' with him," he said half seriously.  
She playfully yanked on his arm and said, "See! I told you, you were jealous."   
The thought seemed to make her happy though he didn't understand why it should.  
"I was not!" he said in a low voice off to the side, and wondered if he really was.  
  
The young Chiana sharply drew in a breath bringing him back to the present conversation.   
"I don't know what to say... I never thought anybody could view me in that way," she said.  
To himself, Berret wished he had seen her that way sooner then he did in his past.  
"There are many things about you to love," he told her. "You just have to let someone in to find the friend, lover, and mother that's waiting inside for her turn to come out."  
Berret smiled sadly and reached for one of her hands. She wasn't wearing her leather gloves and she didn't pull away from his touch. He turned her small hand over gently as if inspecting a fragile work of art. He brought it up to his lips and kissed her palm, allowing himself for only a single microt to forget she wasn't his wife. Chiana found herself feeling sorry for this man so far from his home and family, her heart went out to him.  
"Little Pixie... don't take this the wrong way," he said quietly while looking into her dark eyes. "But I hope to leave here soon and to never see you again." His words weren't harsh or hateful, but instead filled with love and she knew where he wanted to be when he left this Moya.  
"I understand," she said squeezing his hand to show her support. "I really do."  
  
Berret smiled at Chiana; able to see the woman that was his wife somewhere inside her. They had both lapsed into a few microts of silence where there was an interruption.   
"CHIANA!" roared D'argo from the open doorway of Berret's cell.   
Chiana dropped Berret's hand and shot up from her seat. "D'argo!" she said in surprise. "It's not what you think..." she began.   
"It's exactly what I frelling think!" he shouted. "I told you to stay away from her," he said turning to the Shrike.   
"We were just talking, D'argo," Berret tried to explain as he got to his feet. The Luxan growled and strode into the cell, his boot steps almost sounding like thunder to Berret. Without thinking Berret made another mistake and pushed Chiana behind him, automatically seeking to protect the woman as if she were his Chiana. The enraged Luxan snarled at the move he perceived as the Shrike challenging him, meaning to keep the Nebari woman for himself. With a shout of rage he charged the man.  
"Uh-oh!" said Berret as he realized his mistake. With the huge warrior bearing down on him, Berret barely had time to pick Chiana up and toss her on the bed to get her out of the way of D'argo's attack. Turning back to face the Luxan, he had just enough time left to dodge the large fist sailing at his head. Berret dropped straight to the floor and in a move that would never have worked now on the D'argo he'd trained with for over ten cycles, he rolled away under the arm and came back up to his feet behind the warrior. Before D'argo could turn the Shrike stomped on the back of his nearest knees driving the Luxan to the ground.  
Using his foot and knee to keep the Luxan's leg pinned he reached over and took a painful hold on a few of his tentacles. Giving them a light twist to get the warrior's attention, he shouted, "D'argo stop! Nothing happened and I don't want to fight you for real."   
D'argo face twisted up in pain from the hold on his sensitive tentacles. Still the stubborn Luxan managed to growl back at the Shrike.   
"That's because you are a coward!"   
Berret realized too late that D'argo's elbow was on its way to strike at his groin. He'd managed to turn his hips away slightly but the powerful blow still struck him full in his thigh, causing the entire limb to go numb instantly. The Shrike lost his hold on the Luxan and was forced to roll away. Berret tried to get back to his feet but his numb leg wouldn't cooperate. He got himself up on one knee as the big warrior started to regain his feet.   
Without thinking, Berret said to him as if he were sparring with his D'argo, "You cheating Bastard!"   
The offhanded remark gave the Luxan pause as he tried to figure out why the Shrike would expect him to fight fair. The break in the fight was enough for Chiana to place herself between them.  
  
"Stop it! Both of you!" she shouted placing one outstretched hand against D'argo's chest to keep him from moving in against the downed Shrike. "Nobody owns me or tells me who I can or can't talk to. I do what I want to do, when and how I want to do it!" She glared at both men until she was sure they would continue to behave themselves. Satisfied the combat was over for the immediate micron she turned her attention to the Luxan warrior at her side. "Listen to me D'argo," she asked in a softer voice. "Nothing happened or will happen between Jared and me. He was just telling me about their life on the other Moya. I asked him about his family and things got a little emotional. He was saying how much he wanted to leave here and be back home." Chiana glanced over at the Shrike who was just starting to find his feet again. "Jared showed me what my life could possibly be," she turned back and looked the Luxan in the eyes. "What 'our' lives could be... a family, a real home... we could finally be safe. He showed me hope." She leaned closer to the big warrior and lowed her voice so only he could hear her next words. "It's sad, D'argo. He misses 'her' so much. I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice when he talks. Even though it has to cause him a lot of pain he still shared his life and family with me. I was only trying to give him a little comfort in return."  
D'argo paused to consider Chiana's words. Looking back at the Shrike he saw no anger or hate in his eyes, as there would have been in another beaten foe. Perhaps Chiana is right in this case thought the Luxan to himself.  
  
"So what are we going to do about this slight mix up we have going here?" inquired Crichton to the group of people gathered around the table in the center chamber. It was bad enough that Zhaan and this new guy, Jared Berret, chose to sit apart from the others, as if they were afraid to be separated again. They were both watching him intently as if they expected him to grow horns.  
"The only solution that I can come up with is to repeat the Multi-phasic Particle wave that brought us here," the Priestess said.  
"Wait a microt!" said Aeryn. "You want to construct a MPP weapon... here, on Moya?"  
"And destroy half a sector of space using it," added Crichton.  
"No... no," said Zhaan holding up a hand so they'd let her finish speaking. "The device we have to build only has to produce a minuscule wave front. Once it's activated we only have to fly the Pod back into it at the same hetch and we should be returned back to our universe."   
"Well, that's a relief," said John. "Then you can send our Zhaan and Stark back the same way. Right?" Zhaan glanced over at Berret. "Well, that it one of the major problems," she replied.  
" Damn! I knew it!" said Crichton. "Nothing's ever easy."   
Aeryn caught the Delvian's attention. "What exactly is the problem, Zhaan?"   
"I'm afraid I believe that in order for this to work. Both Pods will have to make the attempt at the same time." Zhaan explained.  
"Great! How do we get that to happen?" asked John.  
"I think that since our two universe basically parallel to each other..." put in Berret, "that by now your Zhaan with help from Malika and Andar have already come to the same conclusion. The only difference is that they will not have to build such a device because the effect already exists in our plane."  
"Nice, but that still doesn't explain how we're going to have both Pods go through at the same time?" said John. Berret shifted in his seat, knowing what he was about to say next wouldn't sit well with the man.   
"We'll just have to rely on the similarities of our universes to assure that the time when we decide to go will also be the time your Zhaan and Stark decide to go," Berret explained.  
"Oh! That... is... just... lovely!" said Crichton leaning back in his seat. "We're relying on Lady Luck." 


	5. Chapter 4 To be continued

"Well... what to we need to make this particle thing-a-majig?" asked Chiana from D'argo's side.  
"That's another problem, Pixie...er, Chiana," Berret corrected himself almost sadly.  
Chiana gave him a slight reassuring smile as beside him, Zhaan took his hand in hers in support.  
"The isotope we need is only known to be found here in Peacekeeper tech labs. We are going to have to find one and 'liberate' what we need from there," replied the Shrike.  
Despite the serious situation, Chiana chuckled. "Liberate... I like that word," she said. "But you mean snurch, don't ya?" Berret smiled thinly and gave her a slight nod of his head to signify she was correct.  
John swore under his breath. "Peacekeepers mean Scorpy. How much of this stuff do we need to get?" he asked.  
"A very small amount, John. Just enough to fit on a scanner slide. That will be enough to power the wave generator Aeryn and myself will have to build," said Zhaan.   
"That answers 'what' and 'how much'," said D'argo. "What we need to know now is where is it and who will go to get it?"  
"We can have Pilot and Moya search for the nearest research base," said Aeryn.  
"Good idea, and now... who gets to go?" said Crichton.  
"There is only one answer for that, I will go - alone," said Berret.   
"Why should we trust you?" put it Rygel.  
"You have no choice. Peacekeeper Command knows the rest of you, but not me. Besides I am the only one here skilled at this type of infiltration," said the Shrike.  
"He has a point," said Aeryn. "The Peacekeepers assign to any station will not know who he is."  
"I still don't like the idea of him going off alone. He might betray us to the PKs to save his own hide." complained Rygel.  
"You may feel free to accompany me if you wish, Rygel. But the odds of our success diminish with every person along on the mission. If we are captured, I am reasonably sure I can escape. Can you say the same for yourself?" asked Berret.  
The Hynerian gawked at the suggestion that he go along on the mission to a PK base.   
"I-I- I meant for D'argo or Crichton to go along with you! A Dominar does his leading from the rear where he can survey the battlefield," stammered the Hynerian.  
"Of course he does, Rygel," Berret said with a grin.  
Zhaan hid her smile behind one hand. She knew the Shrike was teasing the Hynerian and would never consider taking the small being along with him even if Rygel demanded to go along. She was happy that the Shrike's attitude toward the Dominar had mellowed over the cycles. Zhaan could still vividly recall a time when the ex-assassin would have had Rygel pinned up against the bulkhead and be actively twisting the Hynerians ears at the slightest hint or accusation of treachery on the Shrike's part.  
"You needn't worry, Rygel. Jared would never betray Moya or this crew," said Zhaan trying to appease the small being.  
"John cannot go near a PK base with Scorpius after him and I'm afraid D'argo would be much too hard to hide," added Berret. "Nor can Aeryn, Chiana, or Zhaan accompany me for much the same reasons."   
Berret thought for a microt and then chuckled out load. "Beside, I don't relish spending anymore time dealing with Peacekeepers that I have to. I've sort of gotten use to the arrangement we have with them in our universe. They kill Scarrens, the Scarrens kill them, and they both leave everyone else pretty much alone."  
"I wish we had that problem here," said John.  
"It may work out here in this plane for the best yet," said Berret attempting to give the man hope. The Shrike turned to Zhaan and said offhandedly as another thought occurred to him. "I hope I don't have to spend another night in a Peacekeeper garbage dump," he said while making a face of distaste.  
Zhaan recalled the incident and giggled out loud.  
"What the frell is he talking about?" asked Rygel.   
The Delvian reined in her snickering and explained. "Shortly after the Peacekeepers and Scarrens entered into full open warfare. We found ourselves caught behind a PK minefield that separated us from Hynerian space. Jared infiltrated a Peacekeeper support base and copied maps to the minefield's layout. Enabling Moya to find the safe route through the sector and into Rygel's home space. During his visit he hid out in a trash heap until it was safe to enter the base and retrieve the maps. He didn't smell so good when he returned to Moya," she said with a grin as she recalled the event.  
Berret made a face at her amusement at the past situation but then smiled along with her anyway. Zhaan remembered something else from that day that she never heard the answer to.  
"That reminds me," she told him. "You never did tell us about something else you hinted at doing while you were inside the base that day. What was it?"  
Berret eyes went wide in surprise as he remembered the incident also. "Oh that! I'd forgotten all about it," he said.  
"Well, what was it you did?" she prompted again.  
Berret shifted in his seat and smiled as he remembered. "When I was going through the data base I found the usual paper work, reports, the mine field maps of course, and some interspecies pornography that the station crew had stored in the banks. There were several routine reports earmarked to be sent out to Scorpius and Peacekeeper Command at a later date. I sort of changed the file names around on the reports and files."  
"Let me guess... Scorpy got the porn instead of the reports?" said John.  
Berret nodded in the affirmative, "Along with a two word message."  
"What was the message?" asked Aeryn becoming slightly suspicious that the Shrike would message Scorpius about anything.  
"One of John's favorite sayings... Bite me!" said Berret with a grin. "It seemed appropriate at the time."  
Crichton started at the Shrike opened mouth and then began to laugh hard. He held his stomach as he started to shake and eventually the other's had no choice but to join in. After a few microts John wiped away a tear and asked, "You did that to Ole Scorpy?"  
Berret nodded his head again. John guffawed and had to wipe his eyes on his coat sleeve again.  
"That's hysterical! I'd give anything to see his face when he opened that email!" he roared.  
Zhaan was in stitches beside him. She placed an arm around Berret's shoulder and said. "Sometimes your sense of humor amazes me also, Jared."  
Berret thanked her for the compliment and then said in aside to her in a whisper, "At the time I though it would be more amusing when the station crew went to review their 'dirty pictures' and found them erased and sent off to PK command. The Scorpius thing was just an after thought," he confessed with a shrug of his shoulders. Until know he'd never thought about the action being humorous from the Scorpius side of the issue. The more he thought about it the more amusing it became until he was almost matching John in fits of laughter. Zhaan poked him in the side to get his attention again.   
"No matter, Chiana will be proud of you at any rate," referring to his Bond-mate's endless pranks she pulled on him to teach him how to have fun.  
"That she will, Zhaan. That she will," said Berret in return.  
  
A solar day later, Berret sat back in his seat as the others hashed over details to the basic plan. The details were a relatively small part compared to necessity of having to find a Peacekeeper base in the area. At the present no one but Moya and Pilot could complete that task. He glanced from one to the other of his crewmate's counterparts who were all gathered around his Zhaan as they work on one aspect of the mission plan or other. He allowed his mind to wander back again to the day of the trash heap incident and smiled. In a way, that was the beginning of the best years of their lives. Once clear into Hynerian space and Rygel was back on the throne, their lives had become almost dream like. The rag-tag group had finally found a safe harbor to call home.  
  
The Wraith settled to Moya's flight deck and as soon as the engines powered down, a tired Berret exited the scout ship after Moya pressurized the bay. The huge landing bay door swung open and a very pregnant and worried Chiana greeted him.  
"Where the frell have you been?" she asked as she approached.  
The Nebari woman was in her second trimester of her pregnancy; more than a full trimester behind Aeryn, who was due within a few weekens. The girl's belly was full but she carried the weight well for her small frame, unlike her Sebacean counterpart. Aeryn had spent the last few weekens waddling around Moya's corridors very unhappy with the way her condition limited her activities, and making the rest of the crew very aware of her displeasure.   
"We expected you back a solar day ago," Chiana continued as she leaped up into his arms as agile as ever to kiss him full on the mouth. The Nebari woman twisted up her face and her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air and bounced back away from him.  
"Ugh! What the yotz did you fall into? You smell like.... garbage?" she said to him.   
Berret grinned back at his wife saying, "What a coincidence, seeing I spent the better part of a solar day laying in a Peacekeeper trash heap."  
Chiana blinked her dark eyes at him. "What possessed you to do something like that?" she asked.  
"It's a long story and I'll tell you later," he told her. "Suffice it to say, we must all suffer for our art."  
"Whatever you say," she chuckled as they started back to their new apartments on tier five. The Nebari woman held his hand but kept a safe distance from her fragrant husband.  
"However, I did get what I went for," he said tossing her the handheld data link that Andar had invented.   
Chiana caught the small black box in mid air. "You got the plans to the minefield?" she asked excitedly. Berret nodded his head in answer, "And then some. Would you please take that up to Command so the others can download the maps while I take a much needed shower."  
Chiana smiled wickedly. "Sure! Then when you're done I can welcome you home the proper way," she said. Despite her leer, Berret smiled warmly and reached out to rub her belly for a few microts.   
"Seeing you there in the bay to greet me was the best welcome I could have wished for."  
"Owww... you've become quite the smooth talker," she told him as he turned down the corridor toward their apartment.  
"I had a good teacher," he called back. "Hey! How's our reining goddess of terror doing?" he asked.  
"About the same, grumpy as always. We'll all be happier when she delivers," Chiana said with a giggle.  
"So will John I wager!" he said joining her in laughter. Waving, he told her he'd join her shortly on the Command tier. It was later on the Command tier while reporting on his mission that he hinted at causing some other mischief among the Peacekeepers, but the need to get Moya through the PK minefield as quickly as possible made it necessary to put the story on hold for the micron.   
  
Berret realized how deep he'd been lost in his thoughts and memories when Aeryn tapped the table in front of him.  
"Hello, Mr. Assassin? Are you with us?" she asked.  
"I'm sorry, Aeryn... I was thinking about something," Berret apologized.  
"That was obvious," said the Sebacean woman sarcastically, "Pilot has something to report."  
Berret had not noticed that Pilot had joined the meeting by holo-com, seeing that he had everyone's attention he continued on.  
"As I was saying, Moya and I have located a commerce planet with a small Peacekeeper research facility located inside one of the major trading cities."  
"How far away are we from there?" asked Crichton.  
"About one and a half solar days, Commander," replied Pilot.  
"Has there been any Peacekeeper military traffic nearby?" Aeryn asked next.  
"None that we can detect. It appears to be a relatively unimportant base according to the data records in Moya's memory banks," said Pilot.  
"Just what we're looking for," comment D'argo, giving Berret a look that told him the Luxan couldn't wait to be rid of his presence.  
"Aeryn and I have finished constructing the device that will produce the wave, all we need now is the isotope to power it," reported Zhaan.   
"And that we have to leave up to your friend, Jared," said John.  
"I still don't like letting him go alone. How can we be sure he won't betray us to Scorpius?" complained Rygel.  
"You can still always come with me," countered Berret with a sly grin at the Hynerian.  
"I trust him," said Chiana, "And D'argo trusts my judgment."  
Chiana looked up at the big Luxan for his support. The warrior gave a low growl but to keep the peace he nodded his head in agreement with his mate.  
"No one asked you!" shot back Rygel, "When he first came aboard, you were just as inclined to shoot him first as the rest of us. Now you're taking his side."  
"I've talked with him since then, I know he's not lying," Chiana said defensively. "I always know when someone's lying to me... it's what I know best."  
"Listen... kids, can we argue about this later?" asked Crichton. "We have a lot of work to do in the next solar day if we're ever going to get our Zhaan and Stark back."  
"I agree, John," put in the Delvian woman as she stole a glance at D'argo. "I for one wish to get back to where we belong as soon as possible."  
Berret reached acrossed the table and took one of her hands in support.   
"We'll make it back Zhaan," he promised  
"I know. You want to return to Chiana and the children as badly as I wish to return to D'argo, Jothee, and sweet Tamilla," she replied.  
  
As the meeting broke up, Crichton caught Zhaan's attention and pulled her off to one side.   
"Listen, Blue. Does your friend really know what he's letting himself in for? Scorpius knows we're somewhere in this area and that research base just might be the place he would decide to stop over at."  
Crichton made a move as if to swat an insect away from his ear but stopped himself before he could complete the gesture. Never the less, Zhaan caught it and then understood what was happening to John.  
"Goddess," she said looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was near, "It is happening to you. You're hearing Scorpius from the neural chip."  
Crichton eyes grew large at the statement, "How do you know that?" he asked.  
"Jared hasn't only infiltrated Peacekeeper bases in the past, he has also faced Scorpius. The first time he did so was on your account," Zhaan confessed.  
"What do you mean on my account?" John enquired.  
"Sometime after Jared joined us, the Syndicate sent a master assassin after him. Somehow Scorpius became involved and he offered Jared a deal to trade our Crichton for his freedom from the Syndicate. He learned that Scorpius had implanted a device in our John's head and was about to active it, but the opportunity presented itself for him to offer this deal to Jared because he feared the implant might damage the wormhole information he wanted. Jared pretended to go along with the arrangement and with the help of Malika and Andar stole the abort codes right out from under Scorpius' nose. Needless to say, we were very displeased that they didn't inform us of the situation and took things into their own hands, but the codes worked and our John never suffered the fate you are now."  
"So why can't you give me the codes and then we can turn this thing off?" ask Crichton.  
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, John," said the Delvian, "Those codes will probably be slightly off from the ones in this universe and the process has already begun. Any interference now could be fatal to you. I am so truly sorry, John," she said placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. John nodded his head and quietly thanked her. "Now that you know, with the other's help after we tell them..."  
"No!" John cut her off, "Please Zhaan, we can't tell the other's how bad it's getting yet. They'll think I'm being controlled and won't trust me anymore. I need time to think about this before I can decide what to do."  
Against her better judgment, Zhaan agreed to remain silent and to instruct Jared to do the same also.  
"You must promise me not to wait too long. We never had to deal with this in our timeline and I have no idea of what will happen to you the longer that implant remains functional," she told him.  
"Believe me, Zhaan. Leaving that thing in my head is not number one on my list of things to do today," replied Crichton. John paused a microt and gave the Delvian a deep look of gratitude. "Listen, Zhaan... thanks. You've always been a good friend. I guess in both universes."  
Zhaan' face fell into a look of heartfelt sadness. She reached up and stroked one of Crichton's cheeks wishing that there were something more she could do for him.  
"We have all been good friends and family to each other," she told him.   
  
Moya moved into orbit around the planet with the research base, using a small moon to hide behind. The crew decided to wait until the base was on the night side of the planet before trying to infiltrate it. The equipment ready the crew met for a final meal and to work out any last micron details in the plan. The plan was fairly simple and there wasn't much more to discuss. To entertain themselves, Chiana had talked Zhaan into telling some stories from their lives after Berret refused to elaborate on some of the pranks his Chiana had pulled on him over the cycles, so this Chiana weaseled them out of the Delvian.  
"What was the funniest thing she ever pulled on him?" asked the girl mischievously.   
"There are so many," began the Pa'u with a sly look at Berret's discomfort.   
"I suppose there is the 'Grub Paste Incident," she said as Berret hung his head on the table wishing he were somewhere else at the microt.  
Seeing the man's embarrassment, the Nebari pushed for the Delvian to tell the tale.  
"Well it began shortly after Jared joined us. Our Chiana decided that he was too serious and needed to develop his sense of humor..."   
  
John had just joined Aeryn for the morning meal when the shout rang out somewhere down Moya's corridor.  
"Chiana!"  
John raised his eyebrows in question to Aeryn, while she wrinkled her nose.  
"What is that smell?" she asked with a growing look of distaste.   
"I dunno," replied John. Taking a deeper breath and then suddenly found it was a mistake as he started to gag. "Oh God! It smells like..." he started to say just as Berret stormed into the center chamber.  
"Where is she? Where is that miserable little cretin!" the Shrike shouted.  
Taken aback for a second because Jared was covered in what appeared, and smelled like, Hynerian Zorb Grub Paste, one of Rygel's favorite delicacies that usually stunk up the ship when it was aboard, Aeryn tried to hide her smile while John asked what happened.  
"That little monster put a bowl of this foul smelling dren over a pressure release module inside the supply locker in the workshop. When I opened the locker door, the module released and shot this goo all over me... and the entire shop!" he explained. "Where is she? I'm going to do something very unhealthy to her."   
Trying to keep a serious face, which was hard because as Berret told his story, he was trying to wipe the pieces of Zorb Grub out of his hair and only succeeding in squishing them in further.   
"Calm down, J.B.," Crichton said. "You and Pip have been pulling stunts on each other for the past few weekens. She's only having a little 'harmless' fun."  
"Not so harmless if Rygel finds out what you two did to his Grub Paste," put in Aeryn.  
Somewhere out in the hallway Chiana's tinkling laughter could be heard, which only put Berret into a fouler mood with his shipmate.   
"Oh, just wait until I...." Berret began just as Zhaan walked into the room.   
"Oh Good! You're all here," she began cheerily. "Pilot has just informed me..."she stopped as she noticed Berret's condition.   
"Uh.... Jared? Why are you wearing..." she stopped to sniff the air, "...Hynerian Grub Paste? You know Rygel will be very upset with you if he discovers you have been playing with it."  
Throwing up his hands in surrender, as if he would really purposely coat himself with this disgusting stuff.   
"Well, I guess I just had a little accident," he said sarcastically.  
"Really? You should be more careful," said Zhaan, now concerned. "What happened to you?"  
Before he could say a word Aeryn and John both piped up, "Chiana!"  
"Ah!" said Zhaan, now fully understanding. "Well, the two ofyou both have to put your games aside for now. I have something important I need to discuss and it concerns us all. Please go clean yourself up, and if you see Chiana, Please ask her to join us in here."  
"I would really like to see Chiana about now!" Berret mumbled to himself as he walked out the doorway, just missing passing by D'argo as he arrived at the mess hall. As the big Luxan entered the room he stopped and sniffed the air, "What the yotz is that smell?" he asked.   
  
Chiana almost rolled off her chair in a fit of laughter. "She actually did that?" she gasped out.  
Zhaan nodded her head and smiled as Jared turned red, she could still remember a time when the man wouldn't have known enough to have been embarrassed by the funny story. Despite his dislike for the man D'argo found himself almost in tears.   
"I can just see Chiana doing something like that!" he howled.  
John and Aeryn smiled amusingly while Rygel complained of course,  
"I don't see how wasting good Zorb Paste would be funny!" he exclaimed, "Savages!"  
"I'm surprised that your Rygel didn't lick it off you!" chuckled the Nebari girl to Berret.  
"I'm so glad you found it as amusing as my wife did. You know, I did get even with her for that," he said with an evil smile. Intrigued Chiana asked, "Oh? How?"   
"I'll let Zhaan tell you seeing she's in the mood to cause trouble... and she was an unwitting accomplice in the event," he replied.   
The group turned to Zhaan and waited for her to begin the new story.  
"As I remember, it was about a weeken later..."   
  
The scream was loud.... very loud. Chiana entered Moya's command tier like an angry gray goddess of fury.  
"Where is he!" she demanded. "Where is that empty headed, sad excuse for a frelling male toadstool? He is so frelling dead when I catch him!"  
Zhaan and Aeryn were going over some of the more recently acquired star charts when Chiana made her rather unusual entrance. It wasn't the fact that she was wearing a fluffy white bathrobe instead of one of her usual form fitting outfits. What left them speechless was that Chiana's normally snow white hair was now red... a very bright red at that.  
"Look at what he did to me!" she cried. "He put something in the shower head of my room. Just look at my hair!" she said while pulling at the offending red locks.  
"Well," said Aeryn, trying to look at the bright side, "At least it was only your hair that turned red. It could have been your entire body."  
"Chiana, what did you expect?" observed Zhaan. "The two of you have been staging prank after prank on each other since last plant fall. And after the incident with the Grub Paste... I think you've gotten off lightly."  
"Yes," Aeryn added, "Berret still has to listen to Rygel complain about the loss of his precious Hynerian delicacy that..." She lowered her voice to mimic Rygel's, "Us lower life forms could not began to appreciate."  
The fact that John chose that moment to arrive on the Command tier in chipper spirits didn't help improve Chiana's mood much.   
"Whoa! Chi... you sporting a new look?" he asked.  
Chiana shrieked while balling up her fists in anger, and then unexpectedly socked John in the stomach. Crichton doubled over and let out a "whoof" of air as Chiana stormed out of Command mumbling something about how males make better pets if you get them fixed.  
Confused, John asked as he jerked a thumb in the departing Nebari direction, "What's the matter with her? Bad hair day?"  
"Berret!" said Aeryn and Zhaan together.  
"Oh, I see," said John, now fully understanding the situation. "So why didn't she hit him?"  
Zhaan sighed and keyed her communicator, "Zhaan to Jared."  
"Yes, Zhaan?" came the Shrike's response a few microts later.  
"What did you do to Chiana's shower unit?" she asked  
"Why do you ask?" he said after a slight pause. Zhaan and the others could almost hear the smile in his voice. "Didn't she like the results?" he inquired.  
"I believe it's safe to say she was less then happy with the results," Zhaan said. "I'm rather disappointed that the chemicals you requested from me for your supposed project were put to such a childish use," the Delvian admonish.  
"Zhaan, I can assure you that the red color will only last a few arns," Berret replied.  
"Well, that's good to know," said Zhaan, relieved and believing that this episode may be over with shortly. Crichton picked up on something unspoken in Berret's last statement and motioned for Zhaan to wait while he hurriedly asked,   
"Ummm J.B.? What exactly happens after the red dye fades?"  
"It becomes a lovely shade of green," he replied happily.  
John let out a groan while Zhaan covered her eyes and shook her head in dismay. "I'm surrounded by children," the Priestess muttered to herself. She looked back up as she continued on.  
"I trust you have a neutralizing agent for this?" Zhaan asked him.  
"Yes, Zhaan... of course," Berret replied in a hurt tone, as if he would be that inefficient.  
"I think it would be best... for you, and us all... if you got the neutralizer to Chiana right away," said Zhaan, trying to remain calm but stressing the "us all" part of her statement.  
"I had planned on waiting a few solar days, but as you wish, Zhaan," said Berret. ".... Ummmm, could one of you or a DRD take it to her. I don't believe it would be safe for me to do so at this moment, now that I think of it," he went on to ask.  
"You got that right!" John said under his breath while rubbing the sore spot in the middle of his stomach.  
Not looking up from studying the new charts, Aeryn solemnly added,  
"You should never frell with a woman's hair."   
  
This time Berret chuckled freely along with the rest. At first Chiana wasn't sure how to take the story seeing it was basically her getting the unexpected dye job. She decided that it hadn't happen to her and then cracked a grin along with the rest of her crewmates.  
D'argo enjoyed the story with the rest of them and couldn't resist adding in a thoughtful tone,  
"I wonder how you would look with red hair?" he asked while stroking his own red locks. Turning to the Shrike he asked, "Do you by any chance still remember the formula?" He glanced at the Nebari woman out of the corner of his eye to catch her reaction.  
Chiana elbowed him hard in the chest. "Don't be getting any ideas!" she warned. 


End file.
